This invention relates to physical exercise equipment.
Physical exercise and/or therapy are pursued by an estimated 15 million persons in the United States. Many of these work-out regimens require a change, from time to time, in the physical resistance against which the user works. In most instances, this requires that the user stop exercising and/or dismount from the exercise/therapy apparatus in order to manually adjust a mechanical setting to change one or more physical resistance parameters.
What is needed is an exercise/therapy system where (1) the user can adjust the physical resistance or other parameters while the exercise is in progress, without dismounting or interrupting the workout, and/or (2) the system can be programmed to automatically adjust the physical resistance or other parameters, in response to (i) completion of user cycles of work, (ii) a sensing of the user""s present level of efficiency or (iii) lapse of time since the user began the present workout session. Preferably, the system should provide a display of the user""s present performance, optionally comparing present performance with a weighted performance index for one or more comparable preceding exercise sessions for the user. Preferably, the system should allow a session-by-session choice of the parameters that can be varied by the user.
These needs are met by the invention, which provides a system for adjusting the physical resistance and/or one or more other relevant parameters for an exercise/therapy machine, without requiring the user to stop exercising and/or to dismount. Where the exercise/therapy machine (xe2x80x9cE/Txe2x80x9d machine) in a first embodiment involves a user supported by and moving along an inclined plane, the system includes: an inclined plane body support, supported on a floor or similar foundation at a first end by at least one horizontal translation wheel that rolls on the floor and thereby allows the first end to be translated; a substantially vertically oriented support that receives and holds and allows rotation of a second end of the body support so that the body support is held at a selected angle relative to the floor; and a vertical translation mechanism, associated with the vertical support, that translates the second end of the body support vertically by a selected amount in response to receipt of an electronic or mechanical command from a command processor controlled by the user or pre-programmed, without requiring that the user (1) dismount from the body support and /or (2) stop and restart the present exercise motion. The command processor can be incorporated within an E/T mechanism that provides the force(s) against which the user works.
In another embodiment, the vertical support is replaced by a tiltable support whose tilt angle varies with the incline angle between the inclined plane and a plane of the floor or foundation. In another embodiment, the vertical support is replaced by a curvilinear support that has the shape of a sector of a circle, with circle center coinciding with the lower end of the inclined plane.